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TFT and General stuff on the latest TFT/App update

199396 Views 1728 Replies 110 Participants Last post by  Tyke1
This will change as I and others learn about the new bike, so, if we put the pieces of knowledge in a common location we can all collectively become wiser.

What I know so far, the four buttons have permanently assigned functions.

Button Assignment
1 Pause or play music, when you stop the bike the music is paused. When you start it again, you have to navigate through the TFT to music to start again
or push button 1

2 Heated grips and seat, not played with this.

3 Change audio output, this will switch from Radio to music on bike with a radio, if you don't have a radio it will bring up the music screen so you can push
the wonder wheel to move to a different track.

4. Displays Map in full screen, don't really use this.

TFT
Its pretty straight forward to navigate down to menu's and left to right. When you have a sub menu, say music open and you push the menu button up to return to the main screen, pushing the down menu will return you to your last sub menu.

There is no temperature gauge on the TFT all you now get is a warning light if you are too hot, engine temperature is shown on the vehicle sub menu.

There is nothing to show the damping on the TFT, if you push the right button on the handlebar to change engine modes, dynamic will change the damping to dynamic, sometimes when I go over bumpy roads I want to change the damping to Road, this was easy on the older bikes and K16 as it was the first option on the menu button, but now I have to go through menu's to find the damping and change it, when I do change it there is nothing on the TFT to tell you what you have set it to, BTW there is only Road or Dynamic damping as on previous bikes.

When on the main screen pushing the wonder wheel right will open up the split screen and there are four displays for the split screen, trip 1 and trip 2 then map and music.

Pushing the menu button up shows user info e.g. fuel left, tyre pressure etc. You can choose from a list of options.

Music.
Its playing fine from my phone, but you have to remember to switch on your music app. I had a problem with my Sena SRL getting the volume high enough to hear it, I also have a Sena RC 3 remote on the handlebar to change volume, the wonder wheel does not do this. I contacted Sena and they said the wonder wheel is propriety to BMW and that's that. I know BMW said they made the API available, but who knows. Anyway, I think I have the volume fixed, when you have it all connected and working push the volume on you phone to max volume. I had to push the volume up button on my Galaxy S10 to do this.

Phone
I had an issue with making and receiving calls, as in, the phone connected, but no audio or mic. However, it worked yesterday, so a leprechaun must have fixed it when I wasn't looking.

Reference phones, we all now have a dilemma. We used to have dedicated Sat Nav's that could play music and could be locked into the bike when we had a lunch break, coffee etc. Now we have our mobile phone's locked in a cupboard. I like my phone on my person when I go for a coffee etc. Maybe phone my wife or check emails. Now, I have to remember to take the phone out of its hidey place. Yesterday when I went to the dealer he took the bike to check the TPMS and the phone went with him, so that was that, twiddle thumbs time.

So, I am contemplating getting a second phone for the bike, (bit of back to the future), since my phone is now my sat nav etc.it is essentially my old Nav Vi and I don't want to be putting in in and taking it out of its hidey hole all of the time, in addition, what happens if I drop it and break it.

Of course there is a benefit here, I will have two phones on my trips so if I break one, my backup will be in the cubby hole.

To be continued by me and I hope others.........................................................................
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I would have to double check but the bittons behave differently depending on how hard you press them. A light press of button 4 brings up the navigation menu. A full press brings up the full map straight away.
David, do you use an IOS or Android phone?
David, do you use an IOS or Android phone?
Samsung Galaxy S10 its android
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Thanks. Knowing what phone can be important. I also use an Android phone. Pixel 4a-5G.
On the phone front, I get you can charge wirelessly in the pocket, but how is the phone connecting to the TFT, via bluetooth? If so, what is to stop carrying your phone in your pocket as you did before and only sticking it in the cubby hole if it needs a charge? Also you mentioned the buttons are not programmable, yet other reviews I have read say they are, is that people just making an assumption. You also say, there is road and dynamic, is there not now a rain mode? I also read there is an eco mode, or is that something that comes with a different pack or an upgrade? Great thread by the way.
Cheers for doing this David. The TFT is one of things that I’m sure will eventually become simple after trawling through the manual and playing with it but there will always be some hidden aspects that you don’t ‘get’ until you actually use the thing...

I’m glad to hear that button 3 isn’t totally redundant for non-radio users. Good to have shortcut to your phone stored music apps.

I’m really surprised about he lack of engine temp readout. I just went back through the PDF manual and can’t even see a way to bring it up anywhere.

I think you might have a point about using a “bike phone”, as ridiculous as it seems. Most folks have old “spare” phones that could live in the bike and act as a hub leaving your “real” phone your pocket. I guess one issue of this would be losing the ability to see / answer calls through the TFT but that’s not something I would do anyway.

We “might” be getting our bike on Tuesday so if I discover anything interesting I’ll post it here.
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On the phone front, I get you can charge wirelessly in the pocket, but how is the phone connecting to the TFT, via bluetooth? If so, what is to stop carrying your phone in your pocket as you did before and only sticking it in the cubby hole if it needs a charge? Also you mentioned the buttons are not programmable, yet other reviews I have read say they are, is that people just making an assumption. You also say, there is road and dynamic, is there not now a rain mode? I also read there is an eco mode, or is that something that comes with a different pack or an upgrade? Great thread by the way.
The phone is connected by Bluetooth AND wifi. I believe the wifi is mainly used to screen-cast the nav app.

I would think the only advantage of using the cubby apart from charging is the cooling fan while the phone is being stressed doing gps stuff.

Road, Dynamic, Rain and Eco modes are engine tune / traction control ‘sets’.
Road and Dynamic damping are just for suspension and are separate settings that don’t affect the engine tune etc.

Nobody has been able to program the buttons AFAIK. It looks like the mention of programmable buttons on the bmw web page may have been a translation / typo error.
On the phone front, I get you can charge wirelessly in the pocket, but how is the phone connecting to the TFT, via bluetooth? If so, what is to stop carrying your phone in your pocket as you did before and only sticking it in the cubby hole if it needs a charge? Also you mentioned the buttons are not programmable, yet other reviews I have read say they are, is that people just making an assumption. You also say, there is road and dynamic, is there not now a rain mode? I also read there is an eco mode, or is that something that comes with a different pack or an upgrade? Great thread by the way.
You can put it in your pocket! The Rider's manual gets into that, and only warn about obstacles, like the fuel tank, that might block the connection. It tells you to put the phone in your jacket pocket. Now, if you usually takes long rides, then it makes more sense to store the phone in the cubby, being charged, since the phone canNOT be in power saving mode. The Motorrad app must be running at all time.
Guys, not trying to start an argument, just trying to clarify what I had read elsewhere :) Thanks for the clarifications. I currently have a 2019 1250, so understand the difference between engine modes and damping. Just misunderstood the posting (or didn't read it correctly). Is there no custom settings for suspension, so you can mix and match? Not that I think that would bother me, as I normally stick with the settings the bike gives me
Guys, not trying to start an argument, just trying to clarify what I had read elsewhere :) Thanks for the clarifications. I currently have a 2019 1250, so understand the difference between engine modes and damping. Just misunderstood the posting (or didn't read it correctly). Is there no custom settings for suspension, so you can mix and match? Not that I think that would bother me, as I normally stick with the settings the bike gives me
This is the bit from the manual you can see we have Road and Dynamic for damping and Load can be Min (no idea what that is for) and Auto. Sorry if I caused confusion earlier.

172735
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Thanks, have you joined the 1200RT.com forum, mostly UK members and only RT focussed. Very friendly forum with quite a lot of RT knowledge. If you have already joined sorry, I'm on a few :) There is a 2021 RT thread going at the moment.
Thanks, have you joined the 1200RT.com forum, mostly UK members and only RT focussed. Very friendly forum with quite a lot of RT knowledge. If you have already joined sorry, I'm on a few :) There is a 2021 RT thread going at the moment.
Yep I am a member, and I am on the Facebook group as well thanks.
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Yep I am a member, and I am on the Facebook group as well thanks.
Just saw your post.
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A bit more of an update on the TFT, this is it in its most useful format i.e. split screen and its pretty and got lots of colour but its dominated by the rev counter.

I know we all aspire to be GP riders but out of 100 touring motorcyclists, how many would put the rev counter as the single most important bit of information on a touring motorcycle?

I have already said that the TFT has no temperature gauge, but guess what, where is the odometer?

The answer is underneath the fuel gauge (shown on the picture) and under the fuel gauge you can put other stuff such as trip info, fuel economy, range, etc.

You scroll through this important information by pressing he menu button up, so you can look at the odometer if you want, but not at the same time as the fuel gauge, get it?

On a 10.25 inch screen they have no room to show a dedicated temperate gauge, fuel gauge or odometer.

So lets say you have the thing set to show fuel economy and you are on a highway and you just wizz past a fuel station the first thing you will know you are running low is when the warning light comes on and you had better hope the next station is within range and open.

I know I can work around this, by leaving the fuel gauge on and forgetting about the other stuff that can be added but sometimes I think BMW designers ask their little children for inspirational ideas.

On the S1000rr you can set different formats of display, but not on this baby.

172745
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View attachment 172744

A bit more of an update on the TFT, this is it in its most useful format i.e. split screen and its pretty and got lots of colour but its dominated by the rev counter.

I know we all aspire to be GP riders but out of 100 touring motorcyclists, how many would put the rev counter as the single most important bit of information on a touring motorcycle?

I have already said that the TFT has no temperature gauge, but guess what, where is the odometer?

The answer is underneath the fuel gauge (shown on the picture) and under the fuel gauge you can put other stuff such as trip info, fuel economy, range, etc.

You scroll through this important information by pressing he menu button up, so you can look at the odometer if you want, but not at the same time as the fuel gauge, get it?

On a 10.25 inch screen they have no room to show a dedicated temperate gauge, fuel gauge or odometer.

So lets say you have the thing set to show fuel economy and you are on a highway and you just wizz past a fuel station the first thing you will know you are running low is when the warning light comes on and you had better hope the next station is within range and open.

I know I can work around this, by leaving the fuel gauge on and forgetting about the other stuff that can be added but sometimes I think BMW designers ask their little children for inspirational ideas.

On the S1000rr you can set different formats of display, but not on this baby.

View attachment 172745
That's also what i thought when I first saw the large tach display. Not a good use of space in my opinion. I have a 2021 on order and am thinking that the layout for me would be the map on the left and either turn-by-turn on the right (if it doesn't show as an overlay on the left) or the trip computer. Have you tried that? Also your map is showing in dark mode which for me would be much easier to read. From what I've seen the "day" map doesn't show enough contrast but I'll have to wait and see on that one.
That's also what i thought when I first saw the large tach display. Not a good use of space in my opinion. I have a 2021 on order and am thinking that the layout for me would be the map on the left and either turn-by-turn on the right (if it doesn't show as an overlay on the left) or the trip computer. Have you tried that? Also your map is showing in dark mode which for me would be much easier to read. From what I've seen the "day" map doesn't show enough contrast but I'll have to wait and see on that one.
You don't have a choice, its full screen or split screen and if its split screen the smaller window is on the right. Regarding the map, again it is what it is. You can display the map in full screen on the dash and that is impressive to show mates but not very practical, do you really need to know what the roads are like miles to your left or right?

I took a shot of a stock photo, the map can be set to auto, I can't remember what other modes there are. I am going to start a thread on the Navigation bit as well.
Totally agree that BMW should / could make better use of the real estate on the TFT. The other thing that sticks out to me is why have no sidestand notification especially when it’s hard to look down and check on the RT compared with the GS.
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